1. Field
The subject matter disclosed herein relates to electronic devices, and more particularly to methods, apparatuses and articles of manufacture for use by one or more electronic devices in protecting data related to positioning of a mobile device.
2. Information
As its name implies, a mobile station may be moved about, e.g. typically being carried by a user and/or possibly part of a vehicle or other moveable entity. By way of some non-limiting examples, a mobile station may take the form of a cellular telephone, a smart phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a wearable computer, a navigation and/or tracking device, an asset tag etc.
A position and/or movement of a mobile station may be determined, at least in part, by a positioning and/or navigation capability (which may be provided/supported in some manner by a positioning engine (PE)) that may be provisioned within the mobile station. Certain positioning capabilities may be based on one or more wireless signals transmitted by one or more transmitter devices and acquired by a mobile station. By way of example, certain wireless signal-based positioning capabilities make use of wireless signals acquired from a satellite positioning system (SPS), such as, e.g., the global positioning system (GPS), etc.
In another example, certain wireless signal-based positioning capabilities make use of wireless signals acquired from terrestrial-based wireless transmitter devices, such as, e.g., a dedicated positioning Beacon transmitter device, an access point (AP) device which may be part of a wireless local area network, a base transceiver station which may be part of a cellular telephone system, and/or the like or some combination thereof. In certain implementations, a positioning capability may make use of one or more electronic files, such as, e.g., an electronic map, a routability graph, a radio heatmap, a base station almanac, SPS navigation data and/or the like or some combination thereof, to determine a position and/or other movements of the mobile station within a particular environment.
In some situations positioning information related to a mobile station (e.g. location, a location history) and/or data used to assist a mobile station to obtain its location (e.g. a base station almanac) may be confidential and may need to be protected from accidental or intentional disclosure to unauthorized persons and entities. For example, the user or owner of a mobile station may not want the location of the mobile station (and thus possibly the location of the user) being disclosed to other users. Similarly, the operator of a network may not want the locations and characteristics of base stations and access points in the network, which may for example comprise a base station almanac, from being disclosed to other network operators or to other location service providers. There may thus be a value to methods that protect positioning related information from being disclosed to unauthorized persons and entities.